Late to the game and a close to dead thread but my two cents anyways.  Cardano and it's communities has been the most consistent throughout my research in the crypto world. There is no speculation to what it is and what it'll offer for those that offer their take on the product. When I started looking into what cryptocurrency was and different facets available, I found there was a lot of people that couldn't quite give a concise answer for companies they supported nor was there much correlation between one person's opinion to the next for the same altcoin.

Then there's Cardano. It's vision for handling smart contracts is the most clear cut, widely agreed upon, and as a result, stable investments out there. With such a volatile market, it's the only company that has investors that seem to all be in it for the long term not jumping ship nor an abundance of day traders preying on skittish investors. My only concern is if there is too much academia involved, that sometimes can hinder a company's business reflexes because it lacks experience from people with proven instincts that result in profits. That's where the balanced team of researchers and business savvy developers, with common end goals reinforces the business model alongside the users who firmly believe in the company reassure any of my doubts.